13-year-old boy arrested for shooting 18-year-old Md. woman

WASHINGTON — A young man has been arrested, but many questions still surround an early-morning shooting involving two groups of teenagers in Wheaton.

Detectives believe a 13-year-old pulled the trigger, hitting an 18-year-old at point-blank range.

“The female victim was on the ground with the suspect standing over her shooting her,” says Montgomery County Police spokesman Paul Starks. She had at least two gunshot wounds, according to police. She has been treated and released from the hospital.

The suspected shooter will be charged with attempted murder and robbery, Starks says.

Police say they received a call from a woman in distress around 5:23 a.m. The call came from the area of Plyers Mill Road and Douglas Avenue, just west of Georgia Avenue, in Wheaton.

Investigators aren’t sure why the two groups of teenagers, separated by gender, met up before dawn on Wednesday, but apparently at least some of them had connections.

“At least one of them was texting the [guys],” Starks says. He says investigators have not ruled out robbery as a motive for the shooting.